"What in hell was the point of Kickstarter if you sell out to a giant company like Facebook?" Michael Cooper wrote on the project's Kickstarter comment page. "This is very disappointing. I will no longer be supporting the Oculus Rift in anyway."

That was just one of many comments criticizing the deal, which will make the world's biggest social network the owner of the hottest virtual-reality headset around.

Other commenters weighed in with similar reactions ranging from mild disappointment to sheer outrage:

"Well, I'm kind of horrified. I'd never have backed this if I'd had an inkling this might happen. Very happy I didn't preorder the second devkit; I'm going to wait and see what competitors might pop up." — Svein Ove Aas

"All I can say with absolute certainty is I absolutely do not like, use, nor trust Facebook as a company. While my funds are yours fair and square, at this moment in time, I regret backing this. I sincerely hope I am wrong." — Brad'li

"Wow I am in shock...VR was soo close... Now I feel we are back in 1993 again. What a setback. I had so much hope for this project. You really need to give us a proper explanation for this move..." — Mathias Hagstrom

"Wow, I misjudged you... sorry to hear I was backing Facebook in the end... thanks for that." — Tim Pettigrew

"I would have NEVER given a single cent of my money to Oculus if I had known you were going to sell out to Facebook. You sold all of us out. I hope this backfires horribly for Oculus and Facebook. I will personally discourage absolutely anyone I know from buying what was once an indie dream and is now a soulless corporate cash cow. God, I want a refund so badly." — John Wolf

Oculus Rift may be one of the biggest Kickstarter exits in history, but if early reactions are any indication, Facebook may have some fence-mending to do in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, for disgruntled supporters, Kickstarter doesn't have a money-back-guarantee clause for projects that ride your donations to a multi-billion-dollar payday.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

The Oculus Rift, Explained

The Oculus Rift

Facebook announced its $2 billion purchase of tech company Oculus VR on March 25, 2014. Oculus VR makes the Oculus Rift headset, currently the biggest player in the virtual reality space.

Image: Mashable Christina Ascani

Kickstarter beginnings

The Oculus Rift headset debuted on Kickstarter in August 2012, raising nearly $2.5 million dollars as it offered developers a chance to get on the ground floor. For $300, developers could use Kickstarter to preorder the entire headset (which is not yet on the market).

Image: Mashable Christina Ascani

Oculus dev kits

By March 2013, developers who had placed orders on Kickstarter began receiving their Oculus Rift headsets. Each Rift comes with a 1280×800 LCD display covered with a darkened-out headset, with optics to fit over each eye.

Image: Mashable Christina Ascani

Oculus optics

The Oculus comes with adjustable eye pieces as well, allowing its users to adjust for all types of vision.

Image: Mashable Christina Ascani

Developers keep working

At the time of the acquisition, 75,000 Oculus Rift developer kits had been ordered from the company, according to stats jointly released by Oculus VR and Facebook.

Image: Mashable Christina Ascani

Oculus Rift gameplay

The Oculus Rift hooks up to a PC, and the images seen on the headset are projected on another monitor. You'll see two images because the Rift projects a slightly different image to each eye, allowing for stereoscopic 3D.

Image: Mashable Christina Ascani

Oculus dev kit, version 2

On March 19, Oculus VR announced it would be shipping a second development kit, complete with a higher resolution OLED screen that has a 1080p display, along with better positional tracking.

How Facebook fits in

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook will help Oculus focus on accelerating the hardware development and look for new ways to "connect the world."

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